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Thursday, 21 September 2017

Autumn seems to have arrived and with it (in our household) the traditional rush to harvest a good crop of local apples to be put to various good uses throughout the forthcoming year.

Some apples seemed to ripening early this season but others seemed to be quite small for the time of year. Our policy has been to pick the biggest ones and leave any runty remainders, to see whether they fatten up at all after the September rain.

My initial priority is always to fill the apple store in my shed with my favourites, beautiful unblemished fruit that will keep us in apples until march next year.

After the shed store is filled, it comes down to - more a matter of quantity than quality. We are looking for a good weight of various types of apples to smash and crush down into about 50 litres of the tastiest juice and scrumptious cider.

In our first week this September, we collected well over 150 Kgs of fresh free fruit. By the time you read this, it will be around 200 Kgs.

People who see me as some kind of an expert in the field, frequently ask me if I am able to identify all the different types of apples. Well, the truth in my eyes is that that this process is more easily accomplished than they seem to think.

My daughter is the official Apple Tester. She takes a bite - if her face lights up with a smile, it is an delicious eater - if she pulls a sour face, it is for cooking... Simple!

Important Diary Dates

I will be giving a talk to Highfield Women's Institute, about the Urbane Forager project on Monday September 25th.

2017 Apple Day atMansbridge Community Orchardis initially programmed for Sunday 1st October. Keep an eye on this blog or on our social media for updates/changes. Dates can be subject to change at short notice, according to local weather conditions.

Tuesday, 12 September 2017

I have been collecting Juniper berries - not for gin, as you may be thinking - but for an excitingAutumnal Ale. This - soon to be brewed - interesting innovation is being created by Southampton based, Unity Brewing Co, continuing their Saison range.

Last Friday, I stuffed my pockets with Hazelnuts, I then packed my lunch-box to bursting point. When I got home from work,in a stroke of genius I told the kids that we were going to nip out to our favourite spot because the nuts were dropping. We returned in time for dinner with a big bag, filled to bursting.

It was raining on Sunday afternoon and so I decided to use our remaining nice Pears and the last of the previous years Walnut stock to cook up my, ever popular, Chunky Pear & WalnutChutney. This is always hard work and takes a couple of hours but it is immensely satisfying when you finally finish.

Fortunately my son was also kicking his heels at home, so he was recruited as chief kitchen helper and we set about peeling, chopping, grating, squeezing, roasting and boiling the ingredients as dictated by the recipe.

We were making a double amount, because I always use loads throughout the year and we tend to run out, especially if we give some away at Christmas. Eventually, after filling the house with the smell of vinegar, we tightened the lids on the jars just in time to cook dinner. A job well done and time very well invested.

Important Diary Dates

I will be giving a talk to Highfield Women's Institute, about the Urbane Forager project on Monday September 25th.

2017 Apple Day atMansbridge Community Orchardis initially programmed for Sunday 1st October. Keep an eye on this blog or on our social media for updates/changes. Dates can be subject to change at short notice, according to local weather conditions.

Saturday, 2 September 2017

The saying goes, Walnuts & Pears, you grow for your heirs. This being because both of these trees take a long time to grow before becoming productive. However, this year's Fruit and Nut season is already building momentum. My Elderberry Port is bubbling away nicely and has now been joined by two gallons of very vigorous Perry.

A friend wanted us to pick his Pears, so I popped over with the kids. It did not take too long, all of us armed with pickers, ladders and clambering over the shed roof to harvest 32 Kgs of rock hard fruit.

The next evening, my son and I smashed the pears to a pulp using baulks of timber and the evening after, once I had got home from work, we lugged the cider press out of the shed and processed the lot.

We produced about 3 Gallons of juice and got all the kit washed before sundown. I did save a few of the unbruised fruit to make Pear and Walnut Chutney, later on. Despite baking tons of Flapjack, we still have Walnuts left from last year, although the new season ones are starting to drop already.

I have also got a gallon of Vin De Noix brewing away; this smells wonderful - I have added suitable spices to create a fortified wine in time for cold Christmas/Winter nights in.

Tuesday, 22 August 2017

We have been completely busy with Summer holidays, outings, picnics, Blackberries etc. However, we have still found time to gather fruit, which is just as well because it is all coming through in bounteous quantities.

I have been bringing home bags filled with delicious plump yellow Plums. These are heartily consumed by my daughter, wife and I but everything else on this post comes in a darker shade of blueish black.

This weekend we were out in Riverside Park, looking for Elderberries to make my seasonal favourite, Elderberry Port. A vast amount of Blackberries were simultaneously consumed, along the way.

Later on the same day, we took a trip out to the wonderful Meon Valley - where we actually climbed a hill - to gather Juniper Berries for a saison ale to be brewed by the Unity Brewing Co in Southampton.

Then, while we were out, we spotted a vast quantity of Sloes, which will be handy when the Autumn arrives.

Friday, 28 July 2017

As I cycled to work the other day, I spotted a load of squashed plums, fallen on the foot path. The tree overhead was hanging down heavily laden with hundreds of delicious looking small (Cherry) Plums.

Closer inspection revealed that there was actually about four different trees, each sporting different colour Plums and each at a different stage of ripeness.

When fully ripe, plums will drop, obligingly, into the waiting palm of your hand at the slightest of tugs. If they are stubborn to remove, they will taste more tart, which is OK for cooking but they will ripen quickly on the branch.

I quickly stuffed a couple of ripe ones in my mouth as I zoomed past, they burst with a delicate juicy flavour; it had rained heavily the night before, so although small - they were fully plumped.

I returned on foot during my lunch hour and scoffed several more of these juicy beauties. I filled a bag to take home to the family and now return each day to grab a few more to see me through the day. The yellow ones have become house favourites and my daughter tells me, proudly, that she ate 23 of them yesterday!

Meanwhile, in other fruit and nut based news...

Ripe Blackberries have been spotted in the hedgrows, so it is probably time to get a little gang together and start rummaging around on the commons and parks armed with suitable containers.

Hazlenuts will soon be ready for picking too. The squirrels have been nibbling at the green ones already and by the end of the summer holidays they will be dropping of their own accord.

It is going to be a bumper year, no doubt about it. So be prepared, check out the falling fruit map (don't forget to add your own discoveries) get outside and get picking!

Thursday, 13 July 2017

This month I have mostly been spotting Walnut trees and busy, buzzing Bees!

Yet Another Walnut Tree

Ordinarily I would be harvesting the vast quantities of wild plums that are currently filling the trees but I have been unusually busy.

If you have any spare time, I suggest getting down to the cricket ground opposite the Cricketers pub on Chestnut Avenue, Eastleigh, where they are available by the thousands.

Beeware

I have had the pleasure to meet several colonies of very busy bees. In previous years we have found Bumble Bees making a nest in our lawn and they are back again this year, which makes mowing the lawn more complicated.

Very Busy

I have also found Wild Bees nesting in hollow trees, we located a fantastic one on Danebury Iron Age hill fort, where we had visited for a picnic and to collect Elder and Juniper berries.

More recently, my parents told me that they had a colony of Tree Bees in a nesting box that was normally reserved for a Blue Tit family.

This year, to my delight, a swarm of bees began to build a nest in my work car park, on an industrial estate. The honeycombs are attached partly to a shrub and partly to the perimeter fence. The bees are constantly attending to and extending the combs. The bees do not trouble anyone and I was easily able to approach the nest to photograph it.

Tuesday, 27 June 2017

We have been picking more Cherries. It seems to be a very good year for them and we are spotting trees filled with fat fruit all over the place.

We have a small tree in our garden and the weight of the cherries plus the obese pigeons attempting to gobble our fruit had even snapped some of the branches.

I duly attached a sheet of wire netting, like a roof over the top of the tree, to protect it from the marauders. The smaller birds could still get underneath but it defeated the largest ones until the Cherries were ready for harvesting.

The tree is not even as tall as I am but the fruit was plentiful, sweet and juicy.

The next thing to ripen will be the Plums and they are also going to be prolific. If you want to share in this bounty, keep an eye on this blog to join us for a Plum Picknik (tba).

Saturday, 17 June 2017

My son and I made a quick reconnaissance mission to check out the state of our favourite Cherry trees, it's always good to be well prepared. Cherries are always the first fruit that we pick each year and it is always a totally tasty treat when something that was sour last week, bursts onto your tongue with flavour filled sweetness.

Most of the trees were looking healthy with fruit near to ripeness, but annoyingly we found that the birds and squirrels (our fruity competitors) were also already checking them out. We planned excitedly to get back the next weekend, in an attempt to beat our avian foe to the fruity booty.

We did find one tree, one of our favourites with exceptionally large Cherries, with mainly ripe fruit so we hastily set about picking as many as we could reach and quickly filled a couple of big containers to bring home.

The next weekend, we returned to the trees, the birds had been busy but we still picked a couple of good containers full to bring home for the family. We have been greedily stuffing our faces with juicy Cherries ever since.

There are still lots out there, for those prepared to look and friends of ours recently located a big tree, full of ripe free fruit, near the airport train station.